How to detail an Alloway-built Streetrod by Mike Phillips

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

How to detail an Alloway-built Streetrod by Mike Phillips


Last night at the CarSpa Car Show Flathead Eddie asked me if I could give his Alloway streetrod a fresh coat of wax.

Before simply slapping on a fresh coat of wax I inspected the paint and found that while it was indeed in very nice condition the baggie test revealed it needed to be clayed and my swirl finder light revealed it needed to be polished.

After wiping the paint clean using Pinnacle Crystal Mist and then claying the paint using Pinnacle Clay Lube and the Ultra Poly Clay I did a test spot using a Porter Cable with a LC Orange White Foam polishing pad with Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish.

What I found out was the paint was really hard and most of the swirls and scratches remained after polishing. I was hoping a light polishing would do the job because overall the paint was incredible looking.

Next I pulled out the Flex 3401 with a LC Orange Hybrid Foam Cutting Pad and Pinnacle Advanced Compound, (same products Wayne Carini uses in his shop), and did another test spot on the 6 Speed Setting with some pretty firm downward pressure and a s-l-o-w arm speed.

That did the trick.

So I compounded, the re-polished and then machine waxed Eddie's beautiful Alloway built Model A streetrod in the course of about 3 hours.

This shot was taken about 5:00pm, right after we set-up the Autogeek booth.

The car and the paint looked amazing even before we started...

The hardest detailing work
What I always tell people is it's EASY to take a car with a horrible looking finish and make it look great and capture dramatic before and after pictures.

What's really hard to do is take a car with a finish in excellent condition and then do to things,

1. Take the finish to a higher level.

2. Not screw up an already nice finish by inflicting holograms or swirls.
(kind of common in the detail industry)


Here's the process...

Compounding the paint using the Flex 3401 with Pinnacle Advanced Compound

Machine polishing with a Porter Cable 7424XP and Pinnacle Finishing Polish with LC White Foam Polishing Pad.

Machine Waxing
No picture but I machine applied the Pinnacle Liquid Souveran Wax using a LC Black Foam Finishing Pad on the Porter Cable 7424XP


Wax Wipe-off
After machine waxing all the paint the wax was carefully removed using 16" x 16" Gold Plus Jr. Microfiber Towels.

Finished

Thank you Eddie for trusting us with your incredible streetrod!


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[EVOlved]

Looks great Mike!! Can't believe you clayed, compounded, polished, and waxed that thing in 3 hours by yourself amazing!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Looks great Mike!! Can't believe you clayed, compounded, polished, and waxed that thing in 3 hours by yourself amazing!

No roof but I also didn't compound the sides, just the tops for the simple reason I knew I wouldn't have time to do justice to the sides.

I did point out the swirls in the sides of the car to Eddie so he's aware and maybe on Thursday night we can tackle these panels.

I did however machine polish the sides so the wax would better adhere to the paint. And I did hammer down on the horizontal panels with the Flex 3401.


I don't mind buffing out cars live at a car show but I also know that 3 hours limits what I can and what I cannot do and do right.

 

[mwoolfso]

3-hours had me thinking for a minute there too....

 

[Caleb@ImpeccableImage]

That streetrod looks absolutely stunning! Nice work Mike.

 

[Belphegor]

That is a beautiful car, Mike! Thanks for sharing and posting these pics.

 

[KMdef9]

Love that color!

Thanks for sharing Mike.

 

[Mike lambert]

How does the compound work with the rupes machines?

 

[FocusSTguy]

Car looks great Mike!

I'm curious why you used the PC for the polishing step instead of the Flex.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

How does the compound work with the rupes machines?

I don't know because each time I use the Rupes "system" I use it as a system as designed by and intended by the Engineers at Rupes.

For example, all three of these cars were polished using ONLY the Rupes "system" and because the pictures are hosted here on the AG forum and NOT Photobucket they won't ever disappear.


1998 Ferrari 355 F1 Spyder

Using the right technique with the Rupes polishers you can make them dance... even when buffing out complicated louvers over the engine compartment.

1978 Trans Am - Original Single Stage Lacquer Paint
This is the version that Burt Reynolds made famous in the movie Smokey and the Bandit. It was not in the movie but is the correct engine, transmission, T-tops, colors, wheels, etc that are the same as the car Burt drove in the movie.

1956 Chevrolet Nomad

:dblthumb2:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Car looks great Mike!

I'm curious why you used the PC for the polishing step instead of the Flex.

I could have used the Flex or any dual action polisher but sometimes I just like the compact size and high quality build of the Porter Cable 7424XP. You can do amazing things with this simple dual action polisher that is greatly responsible for the vast number of people in the world that have switched over from hand polishing to machine polishing.

I also used it to machine apply the wax and again, I could have done this with the Flex 3401 but I never limit myself to one tool and it's much easier to hold the small, compact lightweight Porter Cable 7424XP with ONE HAND when machine waxing the vertical sides.

I can and do hold the Flex 3401 with one hand when doing vertical sides but what I'm saying is it's easier to hold the lighter, smaller PC instead.


Good question!


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